Since my appointment to a substantive post at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 1990 I have developed a major research programme on health and health care in Europe, led one of the School’s largest Research Units, established the School’s first cross-departmental research centre, and contributed substantially to the restructuring of one of the School’s most successful MSc courses.
As Medical Director at LSHTM I have had lead responsibility for all matters related to the clinical aspects of contracts (including joint NHS contracts), appraisal, clinical excellence awards, and revalidation of approximately 140 medically qualified staff. This involves keeping up to date with the increasingly complex system of medical regulation in the UK (a topic on which I have written extensively vis a vis systems in other EU member states) and liaison with NHS employers.
In 2003 I received the Andrija Stampar medal, awarded by the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region for distinguished contributions to public health in Europe, in 2005 I was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by HM Queen Elizabeth II for services to healthcare, and in 2014 I received the Alwyn Smith prize from the UK Faculty of Public Health for outstanding iDonabedian prize for contributions to quality in health care. In 2022/3 I was President of the British Medical Association.
My work is closely linked to policy, both through long term links with major funders and also through the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, of which I am director of research policy. This brings together the School, the London School of Economics, the World Health Organization, the World Bank, the European Investment Bank, the European Commission, and a number of European governments and universities. The Observatory is recognised as the principal source of information on healthcare reform in Europe. I am an author of several reports that have had a major impact on policy in the European Union (on the management of outbreaks of infectious disease that cross borders, the impact of EU law on health care, and the contribution of health to the economy in the EU). My work also links to policy through current or past membership of various advisory boards, including the Open Society (Soros) Foundations (former chair), in New York, the Evaluation Steering Group of the intergovernmental Baltic Sea Task Force, several committees of the European Regional Office of the WHO, including the European Advisory Committee on Health Research (former chair), the Task Force on Macroeconomics and Health, and the Health for All Renewal Think Tank. I am in my third term as a member of the European Commission’s Expert Panel on Effective Ways of Investing in Health. I have previously served as a member of one of the UK Government’s Foresight Programme task forces. I am, or have been, a member of numerous Lancet Commissions, including those on the NHS, the Trump administration (only non-North American), Liver Disease, Health and Human Rights, and Commercial Determinants of Health. In 2011 I chaired a review of the Chinese government’s health reforms at the request of the State Council. During the COVID pandemic I have served on the UK’s Independent Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies (IndependentSAGE), the WHO Pan-European Commission on Health and Sustainable Development (chaired by former Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti and where I am lead rapporteur and chair of the Scientific Advisory Board), and the Commission for a European Health Union (chaired by former EU Commsioner Vytenis Adriukaitis).